Birthday

The birthday party at the waterpark.  Noah and Greta's heads nearly exploded when we came out of the locker rooms into the wave pool.

The birthday girl.

The birthday party (most of us).

Noah v turtle.

Ava v fountain.

Kids 'n cake.  After Greta opened her beautiful light-up tutu from Ava, Tricia and Brian, there was no shirt fancy enough to go with it.  So she went topless.  For her own reasons, Ava is bottomless (with diaper).

The Mondays

After the orchard madness at Applefest, we needed a do over.  This place was awesome.  Middle of Wisconsin, on a Monday.  We had acres and acres all to ourselves.

Noah in the trees.

Greta with some gourds.

Obligatory.

This girl is from River Falls.

Joy of swing.

King of the orchard.

Corn doesn't seem this tall.  It is.

Travel Wisconsin

A whole bunch of photos from our first try camping with the kids at Big Bay State Park. We need more practice.

Campground breakfast.  Not warm at all.

Big Bay State Park beach.  Not warm at all.  Sunny, though - getting better.

40 degrees is not too cold to play in the water.

S'more face.

Camp night number two - the campfire that saved the day.  There are no pictures of camp night number one - a complete camping fail.  We arrived at the park just in time to set up the tent before dark, then realize that we had no fuel for the stove.  An entire box of fire starter sticks resulted in no campfire.  We ate peanut butter and jelly and went to bed.  There was no coffee on camp morning one.  A bad scene.  It's remarkable that we're still alive.

Bayfield Applefest.  A really big deal - we had no idea.  Greta on the tire horse at Hauser's Farm.  Twenty minutes to nuclear meltdown on the bus that shuttled us from the orchard to the Applefest downtown.  The epic tantrum to close out her twos.  So out of her mind with rage, she actually hit some poor minding-his-own-business guy on the bus.  We may have not been the most popular family on that bus. 

On the ferry from Madeline Island to Bayfield.

Will never miss an opportunity to play with water.  The pump at the campground.

Noah copies someone else's beach drawing.

Windowsill Kids

Another good one from family portrait day.

Family Cheese

Hanson family portraits 2010. I think we did a pretty good job. Thank you, Halloween candy, for effectively bribing the kids to sit for posed photos.

Traditionally, when using a tripod and auto timer on a camera to take portraits, just one person is needed to set up the shot and push the shutter. We had much better luck racing from behind the camera to our spots all together. Ten seconds is way faster than you'd think.

Kevin dislikes the cheesiness of this one.  I love it.

Color.  Greta sees an airplane.

Black and white. Noah is about to say something.

Greta from last week. Candy could only get her to sit for so long on family portrait day.

Loch Ness Monster

Looking for the shark in the lake. They're SURE they saw the dorsal fin.

The Leaves Are Falling Off The Trees

Greta waited all summer for the leaves to change. She knew that her birthday would come when they started to fall off the trees. Except that they fell at the end of September, so there were weeks of leaves on the ground when it was almost her birthday. When THE day finally came and I wished her happy birthday, she told me, "Almost, Mom.  Not today."

Thanks for this picture, Dad.

State Fair

The state fair was about a hundred years ago.
We were there.
Trampolines, grandma and carousel.
In reverse order.

Also, a haunted house that we didn't go through (obviously), but that fascinated and terrified Noah all day. He couldn't stop walking past it. But he really didn't want to walk past it. I think Aunt T is going to take him through next year.

Arty Pants

Look at these arty kids. Some Tuesdays at the Walker they invite littles to come and do art projects, listen to stories and run through the sculpture garden. I think they loved it.

Dance Class!

I've been wanting to post these photos for ages.

I want for my children not to have gender roles assigned to them. I want them to be allowed their individuality. Sometimes parenting ideals are mutually exclusive. Greta loves, loves, LOVES dance class. Primarily because of the outfit. I have to hide the pink leotard, skirt and slippers every week between classes or she'd wear them every day.

Neverland

You can have one guess what movie we've been watching.